Dark Betty Antivenin
by Bowyer38
Summary: In an alternate universe, Jughead turns down the Serpents' offer and decides to become his old self again for Betty. Later, Dark Betty, not taking her medication, then independently joins The Southside Serpents. This causes Jughead to reach out for help to convince Dark Betty to reconsider her choices. (another Waiting-for-Season 2 Imagining Exercise)
1. chapter 1

This universe was darker...much colder than any traversed before. Jughead Jones had decided a month ago that although the offer from the Southside Serpents was a tempting one, Riverdale was his home. Dear sweet Betty was the only garage he wanted for his soul's shifting into park. So hearing from a friend that Betty was seen in a nearby alley, tons of mascara, wearing the Serpent jacket that HE had put away, it gave his heart the weight of a sinking stone and his feet the renewed ability to fly.

"Betty, I am so confused right now. What the heck are you doing here at...Whyte Wyrm?--a bar? And what's with this stupid jacket? You're not one of them--you're with ME now..." Jughead's voice trembled a little. No smile was there to greet him. Smokey eyes instead taunted him.

Betty's tone was dark and somewhat mocking. "What's the matter, Juggy? You don't approve of my wardobe choices? Afraid that a poor damsel in distress might get her 'wittle self' hurt out in the big 'scawy world?"

Betty's response and behavior only reinforced Jughead's underlying suspicions.

"You're not taking your pills...are you? Your mom was totally--"

"MY MOM? MY MOM, JUGGY?!" Dark Betty was triggered. Jughead's eyes immediately went to her clasped hands.

"Betty, baby...please! I want to talk you down--just like before...like you did for me."

"You're on HER SIDE now, aren't you?"

"No, of course not." Jughead had to choose his words carefully when approaching her darkness. "I am on OUR side."

"And just which side IS THAT, Jug? The goodie-goodie Riverdale side? The River Vixens and The Nancy Drew SIDE? No! I am SO done with that side, Juggy." The sweet girl he knew was now angry and weird.

"C'mon, Betty, I know you don't mean that." Jughead was scrambling to come up with a way to reach his sweet Betty.

"TRY ME."

"BETTY COME BACK!" Jughead reached out for his soulmate, but his fingers slipped over an ice cold leather sleeve instead as she pulled away to grab a billiards cue. "C'mon, Betts...are you serious right now?" His question to Betty was haunting. Years earlier Archie had asked him the very same thing and he had chosen to slam his locker door shut and changed their futures forever. Could it be happening again? "This isn't over...I LOVE YOU, BETTY COOPER! I always...will." Betty continued ignoring Jughead. She lined-up her next shot and took it forcefully. Pressing her body suggestively against the pool table only served to make him wipe at his nose and paw at his clinging hat as he walked outside and began to fight back tears.

The night air was cold on his skin, and the sounds of cheering Serpents welcoming their new hatchling female into their clutches made him sick to his stomach. He had to call someone that could help. Archie's cellphone rang twice and then he picked up. "It's Betty...well...it's complicated...basically, in a way, I have to create some sort of Dark Betty Antivenin or I will lose her forever..so we need to come up with a plan."

"How can I help?" Archie paused to listen.

"Meet me at Whyte Wyrm in half an hour...and bring Ronnie."


	2. Darker and Darker

Her New York heels hit the gravel section of the parking lot. "What is this all about, Archiekins? I happen to know for a fact Betty would never be caught dead in a...place...like...this." Veronica Lodge's jaw hung open as Archie merely pointed toward the wild blonde biker barely recognizable now as her best friend Betty Cooper. "O M G, Jughead? Are you seeing this?"

"Uh, yeah, Ronnie..." Archie reminded. "Remember? Jug was the one who called ME--to call YOU."

Jughead Jones had a forgiving look for both of them because the situation was dire and demanded solidarity at all costs. "It is clear to me that being around all these serpents, Betty had been 'bitten.' So, this Dark Betty Antivenin is comprised of one part Lodge-charm, two parts Andrews-hypnosis, me stirring vigorously with a generous sprinkling of Jones-weird and injecting it straight into her heart--hoping it is a cure. I can't lose her. You guys are all I have left in my arsenal. I don't know what else to do, you guys..." Archie and Veronica watched as their faithful stoic pal broke down and turned away. The glaring from the gathered Southside Serpents at these outsiders on their turf made Dark Betty stop and turn to see the now-repulsive gang once more.

"Are you guys seeing this?!" Dark Betty hissed at the rowdy mob. She motioned to Fangs Fogarty to stand as a body between herself and Jughead. Archie and Veronica stood together pretending to be brave in the doorway marked by a collection of rattlesnake skulls and bandoliers. "See this, Boys? Jughead brought his goodie-two-shoes Riverdale pals to try to scare me straight..."

"Betty, this isn't funny! This isn't a joke!" Ronnie blurted out.

"Easy..." Fangs Fogarty used a cue stick as an enforcer of the separating perimeter.

Archie's feet were ready for another fight.

"You know what IS A JOKE? You guys! You hypocritical pieces of crap--you think you are HELPING ME?? I WANT to be here...I am CHOOSING to be here..."

"Betty, you can't mean that..." Archie Andrews looked into unfamiliar eyes. Gone were the innocent glassy expressive windows to his childhood. This vulgar leatherbound biker was a complete stranger. "Betty...it's me...Archie. I have known you forever...this isn't you...you know that."

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!"

Ronnie and Juggy felt completely surrounded. Archie felt strength returning to his injured hand.

"You wanna fight? Let's fight!"

"Archie, No!!!" Veronica reached out for his Bulldogs jacket.

"Arch, this is NOT part of the plan..." Jughead felt a fist hitting his jaw and his ears began to ring. Not much is known about what happened next that night.

Sheriff Keller would be the next person asking what happened.


	3. Darkly Bent,' Meet 'The Jugger'

This harsh parallel universe was relentless. "Slow down...one at a time..." Sheriff Keller was bombarded on all sides with a cloud of harried voices trying to explain what each person remembered. "First of all, where is Jughead Jones?" The groggy bruised couple just looked at each other and at the other bar patrons still around. Archie's battered face turned pale as his heart sank. Veronica's swollen eyes darted around as her mouth tried to form words. They looked around incredulously. "Well? Where is he?" Sheriff Keller was tired. "And what is Whyte Wyrm Swill?"

They had no idea. Unbeknownst to Archie and Veronica--Dark Betty, Fangs, and one other person had together placed Jug in the trunk of a nondescript car and sped off to a log cabin 2 hours away. Hours later, unaware he had been moved yet again, Jughead Jones slowly awoke startled to find himself in the very execution room and chair Jason Blossom had been in on that now infamous security cam footage. Seeing the view from Jason's point of view was chilling. Shaking a dirty potato sack off his head, he was able to see just how bad the situation was. His breath left his body for a split second as he struggled against the restraints. He raised his head at a snail's pace and his blurry eyes tried to recognize Betty's comely contours. "Betty!?" He could swear he was screaming but in his throat he felt the word being mumbled and garbled.

Dark Betty entered the room, but was very different in the dimly lit basement. "I thought about what you said." Jughead just listened suspiciously--almost smelling the sarcasm. "You and MY MOM must really want me to stay medicated, Juggy...or should I call you Druggy? But...news flash--alert 'The Blue and Gold'--I am on something far better now...and now that you're here with me...you're gonna be hooked on it too...it's very addictive."

"Betty, PLEASE...I love you..."

"Well, then you are REALLY gonna love me after I give you THIS." Betty unzipped a leather pocket on her Southside Serpents jacket and pulled out a syringe and vial. Like a snake ready to strike, her eyes peered into his. Juggy's frightened face grimaced and he awkwardly rocked the chair back and forth.

"Betty...do you really want to kill me in the same way they killed Jason?" Jughead hoped to appeal to whatever humanity was left in her.

"Silly boy...Jason died by a bullet from his old man's gun...you being such a great detective should be...'detecting' better, don't ya think? Oh, no no no no no...I'm not going to kill you. I am going to make you all better." Betty flicked at the milky white syringe to knock-out any air bubbles.

"What the heck IS that stuff? You are not going to put that into ME..." Jughead was now scared to death. "BETTY!!"

Betty stopped and it was as though her eyes were opened and a spell were wearing off. She shook her head violently and her bright face returned briefly. "Juggy?!" It was as though she were seeing him for the first time.

The moment of clarity was short-lived. It was very evident there was someone else in the tiny room sitting there in the shadows. "I knew she was still too weak..." A fastidious wave of a hand, and Betty was her Dark self once again, plunging the syringe into a vein in Jughead's neck. He winced in pain, but more than that, he winced knowing he was so close to getting his sweet Betty back from the brink. Someone had a sway over her. "Betty, NO!!!"

The unfamiliar voice came again from the darkness. "You see, I am in the hero-slash-anti-hero-making business in Riverdale...I'm very creative. Ever since I 'wormed' my way into the maple syrup business..."

Jughead continued to struggle.

"Um..yeah, so...her name isn't 'Betty' anymore--I call her Darkly Bent--for obvious reasons. Archie Andrews is either Batman or Spider-Man--I haven't quite decided yet--both had dead family member catalysts, so you can see my dilemma."

Jughead was growing tired from the monologue and the injection.

"Andddd...I think if you are a smart kid, and I know you are, you realize that if she is Darkly Bent, then you being who YOU are, that makes you 'The Jugger...'--get it? Harley Quinn? The Joker?" The voice continued to speak from the eerie black corner of the room. A silhouette was emerging before him. "What can I say? This girl likes to laugh and have fun..."

"I don't think it's very funny..." Jughead was not amused by the comparisons.

"Well, you might not...RIGHT NOW...but I can guar-an-darn-tee you you WILL once that trusty Whyte Wyrm Swill kicks in. 'The Jugger' and 'Darkly Bent' will be my greatest creations...just in time to face off with 'Archiekins' and his damsel-du-jour..."

Stepping into the light was a teenage girl Jughead had never seen before. She had a look about her that made his heart race even more than it already was.

Breathlessly he tried to speak. "Who are you, anyway?"

"The name's Sabrina...and I own this town."


	4. Phase One: Terrify

"Hey, baby...what do you want to do today? Sabrina says we have a few hours before the big job goes down." Darkly Bent was fully under the spell of the Swill and desperately wanted to please Jugger and Sabrina. Jugger had a few reservations. Deep inside, Jughead Jones was still in there resisting. The Whyte Wyrm Swill dosage he had received thus far had not yet completely clouded his judgment. Yet every flirty glance from Darkly Bent began to convince Jugger to fully commit to this new alter persona.

"Darkly...I am still new to all this...but...the power...it is quite intoxicating I have to admit. I don't feel like a weirdo anymore."

"Wouldn'tcha like to get revenge on all those Riverdale bullies that shoved you around and called you a freak?--Those Bulldogs are scum! That Reggie Mantle needs his toned tuchus beat if you ask me. He's got nothing on you, babe."

"I don't know...I mean..."

"Come on, Jugger...for meeee?" Darkly Bent wrapped her leather arms around his waist and rubbed up and down against him like a nuzzling kitten.

Hesitating only a moment, Jughead relented. "Okay. Let's do it."

Darkly Bent squealed in delight. That was easier than convincing him to write for 'The Blue and Gold.'

Archie and Veronica desperately wanted to find out what happened to Jughead. Betty was missing too as far as they were concerned--and in a way she was. Kevin somehow managed to get a small sample of Whyte Wyrm Swill for the new team to analyze. Kevin whispered. "My source, who wants to remain anonymous, says that this Whyte Wyrm Swill is basically like ten times worse than the latest opioid out there. You don't want it in your body--that's for sure." Everyone assumed it was somehow from Joaquin, but no one wanted to say anything to Kevin for obvious reasons. "My dad would KILL me if he knew you guys had some Swill on you and that I was the one holding...so PLEASE keep it out of plain view!" Kevin was paranoid all over again. "I didn't even want to touch the vial..."

"Relax, Kev...ok?" Veronica reassured. "Archie and I won't let it out of our sight. All we are going to do is take it to Professor Flutesnoot, have him do a chemical analysis of it, and he and Dilton Doiley will let us know if a vaccine or anti-swill or whatever can be created to make sure we get this epidemic under control. We won't tell them what it is or where we got it--we promise."

"Okay. I trust you guys."

"Thanks, Kevin. You have been a real help."

"No problem, Archie...but officially I was never here." Kevin gave a good luck pat on Archie's shoulder and walked away.

Darkly Bent and The Jugger's Southside motorcycle roared down the main street of Riverdale and ended up at the entrance to where the Bulldogs were holding football practice. Chains on their tires dug into the pavement and were about to do even more damage to the green fields the team ran across doing their drills.

"Phase One. Terrify." Jugger smiled an evil smile and wiped his nose looking back at his muse. Driving onto the football field, the revved up bike tore into the greenery leaving patches of ugly brown dirt in its wake. The chains dug in deep and the football players on the field ran for cover.

Darkly cackled with glee and took off her leather jacket for the crowd. Waving it around like an unofficial Southside Serpents flag, she stood up on the bike seat and made sure Reggie saw her clearly. Mocking a cheerleader cheer, she cupped her hand to increase her volume. "Regg--ie Man--tle" (clap--clap--clap-clap-clap) "Regg--ie Man--tle"(clap--clap--clap-clap-clap) "There he goes, Jugger. I betcha 2...no 3 burgers you can't run him down!"

"Challenge accepted." Jughead spotted Reggie running trying to get off the field. There was something satisfying about being on the giving end of the bullying instead of receiving. He revved the bike harder as the grassy field began to offer resistance. "Come on, you hunk of junk...get a move on."

Reggie threw down his helmet and put every ounce of strength into outrunning the approaching duo. Onlookers in the stands began to question and live-stream the situation. 'Is that Jughead Jones? Is that Betty Cooper with him?'

Realizing she was being recognized, a hint of shame hit Betty as she began to hyperventilate a little. "Uh...Jug...Phase One is complete. We terrified him."

"Come on, Betty, we're just getting started..."

Betty had to come up with an excuse. "Jugger..uh..Sabrina's gonna be pretty upset if her two best Serpents are plastered all over social media right before the big job."

"But this was your idea..."

"How was I supposed to know there'd be so many losers at a high school football practice. Now, come on, baby. We gotta get out of here while the bike still has tread left--or the next 'Blue and Gold' story might just be about US." Jugger hesitated as he looked into the eyes of the cornered Reggie. "I'll make it worth your while." Darkly had her hooks in him.

As they showed Reggie and the field mercy by speeding off in the opposite direction, Jughead couldn't help but scream "THE JUGGER WUZ HERE!" Betty threw her head back with excitement knowing that her partner was completely ready for what Sabrina had planned for them.

Reggie caught his breath as his teammates rallied around him wondering what just happened. "The Jugger?" Reggie questioned under his breath. "I'll kill him."


End file.
